Tommy and Thea
by Nicolette134
Summary: A little insight into Tommy and Thea's relationship, set before the pilot


When Oliver and her father got lost at sea, Thea's whole world changed. She'd lost her brother and her dad in the blink of an eye; she hadn't said goodbye to them, not properly that is, they'd never see her go to prom, graduate high school. Never see her get married; Oliver would never get married.  
She'd never have a sister, like Laurel for instance, if Ollie ever would've wised up and married the girl, and she wouldn't have a father or a brother either. She'd have no one to teach her how to drive a car or to scare off her boyfriends; no one to talk to when she fought with her mother or race around the house with.  
It felt like a massive hole in heart, as she stood there clad in black next to her mother at their funeral. But that hole filled up just a tiny bit when a hand gripped her, squeezing tightly. It wasn't Moira, no, it was Tommy. Tommy Merlyn.

Thea'd known Tommy her whole life- he was Oliver's best friend, and the two always said they were like brothers. Thea thought briefly, _Does that mean he's like_ my _brother too?_ The thought brought her much comfort. Of course he was no replace meant for her father or Ollie, who she adored and worshipped respectively, but he was Tommy and he was _there_.

The lithe young girl turned away from her mother, her mother who'd been so cold towards her lately, when she needed her comforting most, and collapsed into the older boys arms. She sobbed silently into the sleeve of his expensive suit, but he did nothing to stop her. He only patting her back and held her soothingly until she'd finished crying, and the crowd had dispersed.

Even her mother had walked away, leaving just her and Tommy. When she'd finally stopped crying long enough to look up at the boy, she saw he was crying too, and she knew things would never be the same, it would never stop hurting, but now she had someone to hurt with.

In the days after the funeral Tommy spent as much time at the Queen Mansion as he and when Ollie'd been- _around-_ and sometimes he even got Thea to smile a bit, laugh a little. He was the only one who could convince her to eat, stating Ollie would kick his ass if he saw how skinny he'd let her get, and the only one she'd really talk to.

Sometimes she cried, and he let her, didn't try to console her, because he knew there was no way of consoling her. Her mother wasn't harsh exactly, but she wasn't as warm and welcoming as the young girl would've liked, and she wasn't nearly as caring and understanding as Tommy.

"I wish you were my real brother," she stated abruptly one day, then looked distraught like she wished she hadn't, "Not that you're not like a brother, and not instead of Ollie or anything just-"

She trailed off, she didn't have anything left to say.

"I know," he said, "But, blood or not, Ollie was my brother and that makes you my sister. I'm gonna be here for you no matter what for the next fifty, sixty years. By the time I'm done with you, you're gonna be so tired of me-"

Tommy joked when he didn't know what else to do.

Thea smiled and leaned in to give the boy a hug, "You always know what to say."

Catching a glimpse of them in the mirror, Tommy chuckled, "You know, we could really kinda pass for brother and sister. 'Tommy and Thea', our matching black hair- see, you practically _are_ my sister."

"Thanks Tommy," Thea smiled, looking at their reflection as well, "That means a lot."

So Tommy did all the things a good big brother should do: he helped her with her math homework, boy trouble, and when she didn't make the dance team. He taught her how to drive and how to grill burgers, and he dutifully ate the ones she burned. He drove her to her first school dance when nobody asked her, and picked her up 2 minutes later when she was bailed early because, "Nobody wants to dance with the girl with a dead father".

When she took a turn for the worse he tried to talk to her, and when she called him a hypocrite for denouncing drugs and partying he stopped doing those things to prove a point to her. Even though he kept saying it was the last time he'd help her, every time she called him drunk or high and needing a ride, he did, because he could hear Oliver's voice in his head saying if something happened to her it was on _him._ He tried time and time again to get her to stop doing drugs, but her big, green, doe eyes, the ones that used to be filled with joy and innocence, looked dead. The light in them was gone.


End file.
